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Bad Company

One of the many moral hazards of throwing reporters in jail is the company you keep.

In recent days, the United States judicial system and the Communist government of China both reached shameful milestones. In the United States, the New York Times reporter Judith Miller has been jailed for more than 75 days. Another employee of The Times, Zhao Yan, marked a full year in prison in China.

There are differences, of course. Ms. Miller was jailed for standing on a principle protected by the laws of 49 states and the District of Columbia -- honoring the promise of confidentiality made to a source. She declined to comply with a court order to testify in an investigation into the disclosure of an undercover C.I.A. agent's identity.

No one, except the Chinese authorities, knows precisely why Mr. Zhao was grabbed in a restaurant on Sept. 17, 2004, but it apparently was retaliation for The Times reporting in advance that the Chinese leader Jiang Zemin would retire. Mr. Zhao had nothing to do with that article, but the government has since charged him with leaking state secrets, a capital crime.

Mr. Zhao's imprisonment is tragically typical of China's tight control of the press. Thirty other journalists are currently imprisoned in China, according to the organization Reporters Without Borders. In the United States, Ms. Miller's imprisonment stands out for its rarity, and harshness. No other newspaper reporter has ever been jailed this long for standing on her constitutional rights -- and most prosecutors would not take such action. In fact, nearly three dozen state attorneys general appealed to the court not to jail Ms. Miller in the first place.

We are not suggesting that the American justice system can be compared to China's. Although the government shrouded its case in secrecy, Ms. Miller was allowed hearings and appeals. There has not been even a hint of due process for Mr. Zhao, who has no hope of justice if he goes to trial.

But the very fact that this newspaper has to fight the same battle on behalf of an American employee that it is fighting for a citizen of a totalitarian society is symbolic of how outrageous Ms. Miller's imprisonment was, and how it grows more outrageous with each passing day.